Emporium History

A love of history lead me down the rabbit hole of newspaper archives. In my last two historic novels (now in the hands of my agent), I used era-correct newspapers to add historically accurate details. I figured why not use that tool to learn more about our properties? Thanks to the Winslow Mail archives, I found a wealth of information about our Emporium at 213 Kinsley Avenue.

In a nutshell, this is what I found out about the Emporium:

The first third of the 20th century, the building housed a series of bakeries, the second third, department stores, and the last twenty-ish years, antique stores.

Hmmm… Bakery. General Merchandise. Antiques. Sounds like a good plan to me! Perhaps all three combined will make up The Palace Emporium.

Here’s the breakdown through the years:

On April 2nd, 1898 the Winslow Mail reported the new building on Kinsley for the Vienna Bakery man, Mr Ernest Ferar was almost complete, and that he would occupy it as a bakery and ice cream parlor.

There was also this report regarding Mr. Ferar from a couple weeks later, that I include for amusement sake:

April 23, 1898 – There was quite an exciting runaway in our city last Tuesday afternoon. Ernest Ferar, the VIENNA BAKERY man, was delivering his daily supply of cakes and bread to his numerous customers when the king-bolt to his wagon broke, which frightened his fiery steed, who took the bit between his teeth and was off at a 1:40 to the mile gait. The wagon was scattered all over town, a piece here and a piece there. Children were picking up bread, pies, and cakes in all parts of the city. Mr. Ferar was bruised and skinned up pretty badly, but was not seriously injured.

Mr Ferar had a rough year. In May 1898, a fire broke out. There was no mention whether the fire was in his one-month-old building, only that he would immediately erect a brick building on the site of the one just destroyed. The journalist described Mr Ferar as “full of grit, energy, and determination.” He also said being burned out would not stop Mr. Ferar from doing business, and indeed it did not. Same day he lost his building, he was out delivering his breads, cakes, and pies to his customers.

When Mr Ferar headed toward the Turquoise mining camps October 4, 1900, he rented his bakery out, although it seems by August 1901 Mr Ferar was back in Winslow, considering his mention in an announcement about a drawing for a Morris Chair on exhibit at the Vienna bakery. Mr Ferar promised, “the kalamazoo-still band will furnish music for the occasion.”

Sometime between 1901 and 1906, the bakery must have been sold to Frank Dietz, the man (I believe) pictured in this 1905 photo below.

1905 photo of 213 Kinsley, Vienna bakery

The facade has clearly changed over the years, with the addition of the Gallup glazed brick–likely in the 1930s.

Mr Dietz wanted to work for the railroad so sold the Vienna Bakery August 25, 1906 to his employee, George Claussen, a San Francisco baker who lost everything in the 1906 earthquake. Mr Claussen renamed the bakery the Model Home Bakery.
The bakery changed hands at least ten times over the next twenty years, and changed names several times too.

The City Bakery

Around 1913 it became the City Bakery, famous for their Milk Bread.

From February 21, 1919:

CITY BAKERY EXPANDING “Mr. W.C. Williams of City Bakery is finding his present quarters too cramped to handle his daily increasing business and to meet conditions he is enlarging the bake shop, building a new and larger oven and will install the latest improved bread-making machinery which will double the output of his ovens. He is also adding a bread-wrapping machine. With the completion of the contemplated improvement which will require thirty days, Winslow will have the largest, most sanitary bakery in Northern Arizona.”

In 1915 the building got a new ceiling from a contractor named McClimans. In 1919 the dilapidated board awning was condemned and ordered torn down. In 1921 bread prices dropped to pre-war rates, “Patronize home industry!” the ad said, a sentiment we should all support.

The Ideal Bakery

Sometime between February 1919 and September 1919, the bakery again changed hands and changed names, this time to Ideal Bakery.

The new owners upgraded the bakery even more, including two oil distillate ovens churning out 2600 loaves of bread per eight hour shift, a total of 15000-20000 loaves per month. That’s a lot of bread!

From September 21, 1924:

IDEAL BAKERY “ With the splendid service rendered and the completeness and capacity of this modern plant there is no possible excuse to buy bakery products outside of Winslow.” Mr. Hall says, “It looks as if Winslow will keep growing. The Santa Fe Railway Shops here makes this town a steady and substantial business center.”

The last bakery incarnation came around 1931, when it became the Quality Bakery. Misters Binder and Weigand said they planned to remodel. We’re guessing that’s when the building came to look like it does today, and why the date on the title puts the building in the thirties.

The Department Store Era

Around 1940, the building use changed. Ads for Sears Roebuck and Co began to pop up for 213 Kinsley.

In 1947, Krause’s department store ads began to appear.

Sadly, January 20, 1956, Krause’s Department Store announced their Going-Out-of-Business sale, making way for the next department store to step in.

On September 7, 1956, the Lehman’s from New Mexico, announced the Grand opening of their new Haberdashery, Lehman’s Department Store, a cash only business stocking famous lines like Acme cowboy boots and Hanes Underwear.

“[Mr Lehman] intends to sell good quality merchandise and keep prices at the lowest levels.”

Mr and Mrs Lehman

In 1976 Helen and Johnny Butler leased the building from Mr. Lehman so they could move their Montgomery Ward mail-order business there and give Troutners on 2nd St room to expand. They operated there for ten plus years. The orders came on truck from Denver two to three times a week, arriving in about three days.

Mobile Oil bought Montgomery Ward in ’76–flush with money from the rise in oil prices–and began to dismantle the company. In 1985, after 113 years in business, Mobile closed the catalog branch, putting the Butler’s out of business.

Interesting side-note, Brian worked for Montgomery Ward in college as a field technician, working on lawn mowers and garden tractors.

After the Butler’s left in 1986, the building remained vacant for a while according to Helen Butler.

The Antique Era

January 28, 2002 a merger was announced between Linda Stegmire of Mother Road Antiques, and Bill Sandige of On the Corner Antiques. The article sites Bill had been at 213 Kinsley for a while, but never opened.

That brings us to 2017. Brian and Lori Law bought the antique store from the Sandige’s, with plans to renovate and reopen as The Palace Emporium.

If anyone has further details on the history or pictures, please drop us a line and let us know!